Last Friday, one of my individual students told me that she received an unsettling whatsapp message. It warned her not to go to any public or crowded over the weekend because there have been serious threats of a terrorist attack. She added that this message was forwarded to her by an acquaintance. When I asked her if she believed it, she said "enough to stay home this weekend and warn my loved ones." I was skeptical of her news source, but shaken enough not to visit any centers myself over the weekend. Plus, I've waited to post this blog until now so that my mother wouldn't worry all weekend. I'm fine, mom.

I think the media's sensationalism of the Paris bombings is causing a frenzy. Not just here, but especially back home. Americans are once again on edge about terrorists crossing American borders and carrying out an attack. Is that because of real, imminent threat, or the result of panic? Just like with the recent plague outbreak in Africa, Americans have been consumed by fear caused more by media sensationalism than statistical or logical likelihood of danger. Now that fear is being directed at refugees. Anti-immigration proponents have hit the jackpot with this ammunition. They are harnessing the panic caused by the events in Paris in order to halt flow of Syrian refugees to American cities. Simultaneously, rumors of threats of attack in America drive home this fear, allowing Americans to be persuaded by the agenda of anti-immigration conservatives.

What comes first, the readership or the headline?As for Russians, I personally know many who wish that Westerners had shown as much concern over the plane that went down over Egypt as over the Paris bombings. The same silence about the killings in Beirut, Baghdad, and many other cities is so marked that it's almost audible. This article insists that media do cover these events, and that readers are to blame for the lack of attention. And to be fair, the New York Times alone has at least this many articles on the Russian plane bombing: 123 45 6 I guess the difference is that there's limited room for headlines. There's limited room on the front page, and a front page worth of news contains about all the tragedy that we humans can stomach for one day.